Methods and apparatus for upgrading a plurality of databases

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for upgrading a plurality of databases are disclosed. For example, a computer system may receive a first upgrade order associated with a first database. The system then receives a second upgrade order associated with a second database, wherein the first upgrade order is indicative of a first higher upgrade precedence than the second upgrade order. The system then receives a first priority associated with a third database. The system then receives a second priority associated with a fourth database wherein the first priority is indicative of a second higher upgrade precedence than the second priority. The system then upgrades the first database first in time based on the first upgrade order. The system then upgrades the second database second in time based on the second upgrade order. The system then upgrades the third database third in time based on the first priority. The system then upgrades the fourth database fourth in time based on the second priority.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Provisional Application Ser. No.62/156,264, filed on May 2, 2015, having inventors Nathanial JosephNoonen et al., titled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR UPGRADING A PLURALITYOF DATABASES”, and is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates in general to databases, and, inparticular, to methods and apparatus for upgrading a plurality ofdatabases.

BACKGROUND

The vast majority of documents we create and/or archive are storedelectronically. In order to quickly find certain documents, the relevantdata from these documents is typically extracted, catalogued, andorganized in a centralized database to make them searchable. In somecircumstances, these databases can be very large. For example, a lawsuit may involve millions of documents. Coding documents in these largedatabases can be problematic. Often, these database need to be upgraded.However, upgrading a database often renders that database unusable orcumbersome for users during the upgrade period. Accordingly, a problemexists as to what order these databases should be upgraded in order tominimize user disruptions and/or downtime during the upgrade process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example network communication system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example computing device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example process for upgrading a plurality ofdatabases.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of another example process for upgrading aplurality of databases.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of another example process for upgrading aplurality of databases.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga plurality of database upgrades.

FIG. 7 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showingan upgrade order overriding any prioritizations for three databases.

FIG. 8 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga user setting an upgrade order.

FIG. 9 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga user setting another upgrade order.

FIG. 10 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga user setting a priority.

FIG. 11 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga script dependency.

FIG. 12 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga maximum number of upgrade for a particular server.

FIG. 13 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga particular server being memory bound.

FIG. 14 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga particular server being memory bound.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Briefly, methods and apparatus for upgrading a plurality of databasesare disclosed. For example, a computer system may receive a firstupgrade order associated with a first database. The system then receivesa second upgrade order associated with a second database, wherein thefirst upgrade order is indicative of a first higher upgrade precedencethan the second upgrade order. The system then receives a first priorityassociated with a third database. The system then receives a secondpriority associated with a fourth database wherein the first priority isindicative of a second higher upgrade precedence than the secondpriority. The system then upgrades the first database first in timebased on the first upgrade order. The system then upgrades the seconddatabase second in time based on the second upgrade order. The systemthen upgrades the third database third in time based on the firstpriority. The system then upgrades the fourth database fourth in timebased on the second priority.

Turning now to the figures, the present system is most readily realizedin a network communication system 100. A block diagram of certainelements of an example network communications system 100 is illustratedin FIG. 1. The illustrated system 100 includes one or more clientdevices 102 (e.g., computer, television, camera, phone), one or more webservers 106, and one or more databases 108. Each of these devices maycommunicate with each other via a connection to one or morecommunications channels 110 such as the Internet or some other wiredand/or wireless data network, including, but not limited to, anysuitable wide area network or local area network. It will be appreciatedthat any of the devices described herein may be directly connected toeach other instead of over a network.

The web server 106 stores a plurality of files, programs, and/or webpages in one or more databases 108 for use by the client devices 102 asdescribed in detail below. The database 108 may be connected directly tothe web server 106 and/or via one or more network connections. Thedatabase 108 stores data as described in detail below.

One web server 106 may interact with a large number of client devices102. Accordingly, each server 106 is typically a high end computer witha large storage capacity, one or more fast microprocessors, and one ormore high speed network connections. Conversely, relative to a typicalserver 106, each client device 102 typically includes less storagecapacity, a single microprocessor, and a single network connection.

Each of the devices illustrated in FIG. 1 (e.g., clients 102 and/orservers 106) may include certain common aspects of many computingdevices such as microprocessors, memories, input devices, outputdevices, etc. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example computing device.The example computing device 200 includes a main unit 202 which mayinclude, if desired, one or more processing units 204 electricallycoupled by an address/data bus 206 to one or more memories 208, othercomputer circuitry 210, and one or more interface circuits 212. Theprocessing unit 204 may include any suitable processor or plurality ofprocessors. In addition, the processing unit 204 may include othercomponents that support the one or more processors. For example, theprocessing unit 204 may include a central processing unit (CPU), agraphics processing unit (GPU), and/or a direct memory access (DMA)unit.

The memory 208 may include various types of non-transitory memoryincluding volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory such as, but notlimited to, distributed memory, read-only memory (ROM), random accessmemory (RAM) etc. The memory 208 typically stores a software programthat interacts with the other devices in the system as described herein.This program may be executed by the processing unit 204 in any suitablemanner. The memory 208 may also store digital data indicative ofdocuments, files, programs, web pages, scripts, etc. retrieved from aserver and/or loaded via an input device 214.

The interface circuit 212 may be implemented using any suitableinterface standard, such as an Ethernet interface and/or a UniversalSerial Bus (USB) interface. One or more input devices 214 may beconnected to the interface circuit 212 for entering data and commandsinto the main unit 202. For example, the input device 214 may be akeyboard, mouse, touch screen, track pad, camera, voice recognitionsystem, accelerometer, global positioning system (GPS), and/or any othersuitable input device.

One or more displays, printers, speakers, monitors, televisions, highdefinition televisions, and/or other suitable output devices 216 mayalso be connected to the main unit 202 via the interface circuit 212.One or more storage devices 218 may also be connected to the main unit202 via the interface circuit 212. For example, a hard drive, CD drive,DVD drive, and/or other storage devices may be connected to the mainunit 202. The storage devices 218 may store any type of data used by thedevice 200. The computing device 200 may also exchange data with one ormore input/output (I/O) devices 220, such as network routers, camera,audio players, thumb drives etc.

The computing device 200 may also exchange data with other networkdevices 222 via a connection to a network 110. The network connectionmay be any type of network connection, such as an Ethernet connection,digital subscriber line (DSL), telephone line, coaxial cable, wirelessbase station 230, etc. Users 114 of the system 100 may be required toregister with a server 106. In such an instance, each user 114 maychoose a user identifier (e.g., e-mail address) and a password which maybe required for the activation of services. The user identifier andpassword may be passed across the network 110 using encryption builtinto the user's browser. Alternatively, the user identifier and/orpassword may be assigned by the server 106.

In some embodiments, the device 200 may be a wireless device 200. Insuch an instance, the device 200 may include one or more antennas 224connected to one or more radio frequency (RF) transceivers 226. Thetransceiver 226 may include one or more receivers and one or moretransmitters operating on the same and/or different frequencies. Forexample, the device 200 may include a blue tooth transceiver 216, aWi-Fi transceiver 216, and diversity cellular transceivers 216. Thetransceiver 226 allows the device 200 to exchange signals, such asvoice, video and any other suitable data, with other wireless devices228, such as a phone, camera, monitor, television, and/or highdefinition television. For example, the device 200 may send and receivewireless telephone signals, text messages, audio signals and/or videosignals directly and/or via a base station 230.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example process for upgrading a plurality ofdatabases. The process 300 may be carried out by one or more suitablyprogrammed processors, such as a CPU executing software (e.g., block 204of FIG. 2). The process 300 may also be carried out by hardware or acombination of hardware and hardware executing software. Suitablehardware may include one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), state machines, field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other suitablehardware. Although the process 300 is described with reference to theflowchart illustrated in FIG. 3, it will be appreciated that many othermethods of performing the acts associated with process 300 may be used.For example, the order of many of the operations may be changed, andsome of the operations described may be optional.

In this example, the process 300 begins the system receives a firstupgrade order associated with a first database (block 302). For example,a user may select the A database to be upgraded first. The system thenreceives a second upgrade order associated with a second database,wherein the first upgrade order is indicative of a first higher upgradeprecedence than the second upgrade order (block 304). For example, theuser may select the B database to be upgraded second.

The system then receives a first priority associated with a thirddatabase (block 306). For example, the user may select the C database tobe upgraded with a high priority. The system then receives a secondpriority associated with a fourth database wherein the first priority isindicative of a second higher upgrade precedence than the secondpriority (block 308). For example, the system defaults the D database tobe upgraded with a medium priority. The system then receives a maximumnumber of simultaneous upgrades associated with a server (block 310).For example, the user indicates that a certain server is only allowed toperform two upgrades at the same time.

The system then upgrades the first database first in time based on thefirst upgrade order (block 312). For example, the system upgrades the Adatabase first, because it was selected to be upgraded first. The systemthen upgrades the second database second in time based on the secondupgrade order (block 314). For example, the system upgrades the Bdatabase second, because it was selected to be upgraded second. Thesystem then upgrades the third database third in time based on the firstpriority (block 316). For example, the system upgrades the C databasethird, because the system has finished upgrading the ordered databases.The system then upgrades the fourth database fourth in time based on thesecond priority (block 318). For example, the system upgrades the Ddatabase fourth, because the system has finished upgrading the higherpriority databases. The system then upgrades a fifth database, out of atleast one of upgrade order and priority order, based on the maximumnumber of simultaneous upgrades associated with the server (block 320).For example, the system may upgrade a different database because themaximum number of simultaneous upgrades for a particular server has beenreached.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of another example process for upgrading aplurality of databases. The process 400 may be carried out by one ormore suitably programmed processors, such as a CPU executing software(e.g., block 204 of FIG. 2). The process 400 may also be carried out byhardware or a combination of hardware and hardware executing software.Suitable hardware may include one or more application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), state machines, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other suitablehardware. Although the process 400 is described with reference to theflowchart illustrated in FIG. 3, it will be appreciated that many othermethods of performing the acts associated with process 400 may be used.For example, the order of many of the operations may be changed, andsome of the operations described may be optional.

In this example, the process 400 begins when the system receives a firstupgrade order associated with a first database (block 402). For example,a user may select the A database to be upgraded first. The system thenreceives a second upgrade order associated with a second database,wherein the first upgrade order is indicative of a first higher upgradeprecedence than the second upgrade order (block 404). For example, theuser may select the B database to be upgraded second.

The system then receives a first priority associated with a thirddatabase (block 406). For example, the user may select the C database tobe upgraded with a high priority. The system then receives a secondpriority associated with a fourth database wherein the first priority isindicative of a second higher upgrade precedence than the secondpriority (block 408). For example, the system defaults the D database tobe upgraded with a medium priority. The system then receives adependency relationship associated with at least two upgrade scripts(block 410). For example, the system may automatically determines and/orthe user may indicate that script A depends on script C.

The system then upgrades the first database first in time based on thefirst upgrade order (block 412). For example, the system upgrades the Adatabase first, because it was selected to be upgraded first. The systemthen upgrades the second database second in time based on the secondupgrade order (block 414). For example, the system upgrades the Bdatabase second, because it was selected to be upgraded second. Thesystem then upgrades the third database third in time based on the firstpriority (block 416). For example, the system upgrades the C databasethird, because the system has finished upgrading the ordered databases.The system then upgrades the fourth database fourth in time based on thesecond priority (block 418). For example, the system upgrades the Ddatabase fourth, because the system has finished upgrading the higherpriority databases. The system then upgrades a fifth database, out of atleast one of upgrade order and priority order, based on the dependencyrelationship associated with the at least two upgrade scripts (block420). For example, the system may upgrade a different database becausethe system is waiting on a script dependency.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of another example process for upgrading aplurality of databases. The process 500 may be carried out by one ormore suitably programmed processors, such as a CPU executing software(e.g., block 204 of FIG. 2). The process 500 may also be carried out byhardware or a combination of hardware and hardware executing software.Suitable hardware may include one or more application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), state machines, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other suitablehardware. Although the process 500 is described with reference to theflowchart illustrated in FIG. 3, it will be appreciated that many othermethods of performing the acts associated with process 500 may be used.For example, the order of many of the operations may be changed, andsome of the operations described may be optional.

In this example, the process 500 begins when the system receives a firstupgrade order associated with a first database (block 502). For example,the user may select the A database to be upgraded first. The system thenreceives a second upgrade order associated with a second database,wherein the first upgrade order is indicative of a first higher upgradeprecedence than the second upgrade order (block 504). For example, theuser may select the B database to be upgraded second.

The system then receives a first priority associated with a thirddatabase (block 506). For example, the user may select the C database tobe upgraded with a high priority. The system then receives a secondpriority associated with a fourth database wherein the first priority isindicative of a second higher upgrade precedence than the secondpriority (block 508). For example, the system defaults the D database tobe upgraded with a medium priority. The system then receives a servercharacterization of at least one of memory bound and central processingunit (CPU) bound (block 510). For example, the user indicates thatserver A has a lot of memory, and server B has a lot of CPU capacity.The system then receives an upgrade script characterization of at leastone of memory bound and CPU bound (block 512). For example, the userindicates that script A requires a lot of memory and script B requires alot of CPU.

The system then upgrades the first database first in time based on thefirst upgrade order (block 514). For example, the system upgrades the Adatabase first, because it was selected to be upgraded first. The systemthen upgrades the second database second in time based on the secondupgrade order (block 516). For example, the system upgrades the Bdatabase second, because it was selected to be upgraded second. Thesystem then upgrades the third database third in time based on the firstpriority (block 518). For example, the system upgrades the C databasethird, because the system has finished upgrading the ordered databases.The system then upgrades the fourth database fourth in time based on thesecond priority (block 520). For example, the system upgrades the Ddatabase fourth, because the system has finished upgrading the higherpriority databases. The system then upgrades a fifth database, out of atleast one of upgrade order and priority order, based on the servercharacterization and the upgrade script characterization (block 522).For example, if a CPU bound script only has a memory bound serveravailable, then a different database is preferably selected forupgrading.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga plurality of database upgrades. In this example, workspace name.upgrade status, priority, order, workspace status, and progress areincluded. FIG. 7 is a screen shot of an example upgrade orderapplication showing an upgrade order overriding any prioritizations forthree databases (e.g., orders 1, 2 and 3 for the first three databaseslisted). FIG. 8 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order applicationshowing a user setting an upgrade priority. In this example, the user issetting two workspaces to have an upgrade order of five. These exampleworkspaces are to be upgraded after any workspaces with an upgrade orderof 1-4. FIG. 9 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order applicationshowing a user setting an upgrade priority. In this example, the user issetting two workspaces to have an upgrade order of one hundred. FIG. 10is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showing a usersetting a priority. These workspaces are to be upgraded after anyworkspaces with an upgrade order and before any workspaces with apriority of medium or lower. In this example, the user is setting twoworkspaces to have an upgrade priority of high.

FIG. 11 is a screen shot of an example upgrade order application showinga script dependency. In this example, the user is indicating that scriptA depends on script C. Accordingly, script A takes precedence overscript C. FIG. 12 is a screen shot of an example upgrade orderapplication showing a maximum number of upgrade for a particular server.In this example, the user is indicating that server Chi-01 is allowed toservice a maximum of twelve simultaneous upgrades. FIG. 13 is a screenshot of an example upgrade order application showing a particular serverbeing memory bound. In this example, the user is indicating that serverChi-01 is memory bound. FIG. 14 is a screen shot of an example upgradeorder application showing a particular server being memory bound. Inthis example, the user is indicating that script A is CPU bound.Accordingly, workspace upgrade orders are preferably designated out oforder and/or priority (if necessary) such that memory intensive upgradesare not assigned to memory bound server and CPU intensive upgrades arenot assigned to CPU bound servers.

In summary, persons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciatethat methods and apparatus for upgrading a plurality of databases havebeen provided. The foregoing description has been presented for thepurposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the exemplary embodimentsdisclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light ofthe above teachings. It is intended that the scope of the invention belimited not by this detailed description of examples, but rather by theclaims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of upgrading a plurality of databases,the method comprising: receive a first upgrade order associated with afirst database; receive a second upgrade order associated with a seconddatabase, wherein the first upgrade order is indicative of a firsthigher upgrade precedence than the second upgrade order; receive a firstpriority associated with a third database; receive a second priorityassociated with a fourth database wherein the first priority isindicative of a second higher upgrade precedence than the secondpriority; receive a maximum number of simultaneous upgrades associatedwith a server; upgrade the first database first in time based on thefirst upgrade order; upgrade the second database second in time based onthe second upgrade order; upgrade the third database third in time basedon the first priority; upgrade the fourth database fourth in time basedon the second priority; and upgrade a fifth database, out of at leastone of upgrade order and priority order, based on the maximum number ofsimultaneous upgrades associated with the server.
 2. The method of claim1, further comprising: receiving a dependency relationship associatedwith at least two upgrade scripts; and upgrading a sixth database, outof at least one of upgrade order and priority order, based on thedependency relationship associated with the at least two upgradescripts.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving aserver characterization of at least one of memory bound and centralprocessing unit (CPU) bound; receiving a upgrade script characterizationof at least one of memory bound and CPU bound; and upgrading a sixthdatabase, out of at least one of upgrade order and priority order, basedon the server characterization and the upgrade script characterization4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: receiving a dependencyrelationship associated with at least two upgrade scripts; and upgradinga seventh database, out of at least one of upgrade order and priorityorder, based on the dependency relationship associated with the at leasttwo upgrade scripts.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving themaximum number of simultaneous upgrades includes receiving the maximumnumber of simultaneous upgrades manually via a user interface.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein receiving the maximum number of simultaneousupgrades includes automatically determining the maximum number ofsimultaneous upgrades.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving themaximum number of simultaneous upgrades includes overriding theautomatically determined maximum number of simultaneous upgradesmanually via a user interface.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising upgrading a sixth database out of upgrade order to facilitateavoiding unused computational resources.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising upgrading a sixth database out of priority order tofacilitate avoiding unused computational resources.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein receiving the first priority includes receiving dataindicative of one of three priority levels.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein receiving the second priority associated with the fourthdatabase includes receiving the second priority by default.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein receiving the second priority by defaultincludes associating a middle of the three priority levels with thefourth database.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein upgrading the firstdatabase includes retrieving a script to modify a database schema. 14.The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving data indicative of anumber of agents to be assigned to at least one of upgrading the firstdatabase, upgrading the second database, upgrading the third database,and upgrading the fourth database.
 15. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising sending data indicative of at least a portion of a graphicaluser interface allowing a user to monitor an upgrade status.